Riba
"Miss me?" - Riba on Mario the Music Box -ARC- Sane Route. Riba is the third playable character and one of the main antagonists in [[(Mario) The Music Box (Game)|(Mario) The Music Box]]'' and the main antagonist or protagonist in ''(Mario) The Music Box -ARC- depending on the choices made by Mario. He is the lover and husband of Alice, the biological father of Serina and Anna. He is also Elizabeth's husband before she dies. His last name is hinted to be Aduraice from a diary page written about Alice, meaning his full name is Riba Aduraice. He is first encountered as an NPC and then a playable character for a short time. Profile Riba is a man who looks as if he's in his mid 20's. He has dark blonde hair, light skin, gray eyes, wears a pair of glasses, and a brown business-like suit with a red tie. Plot Riba is first encountered during Luigi's route when he is in search of Mario. Upon meeting Luigi, he introduces himself and his purpose with the mansion. After Luigi questions him if he's come across Mario by any chance, Riba responds that the last time he's heard of him was seeing him bang his head on the wall, and running off into the darkness. He then warns Luigi not to remain in the mansion too long before taking his leave. Riba happened to bump into Mario once again, and appears to be taking care of him while he is unconscious. When the two introduce themselves to each other and explain their purpose of being at the mansion, Riba will join Mario's party temporarily and become playable for a short time in his absence. Personality Riba can be described as a calm and serious individual when compared to Mario and Luigi. He doesn't tend to show much fear despite the situations he gets himself into. For example, he is capable of navigating through the halls without a need of a light source, even though it leaves him extremely vulnerable. In some cases, however, spirits can suddenly appear, which can surprise him. For instance, when searching for a long board to use as a bridge in the storage room, he is confronted by a malicious spirit who died there. Riba is taken by surprise and must think quickly to outsmart it in order to escape the room. He also seems to be somewhat afraid of Alice, which hints a bit about the nature of his relationship with her. When being pursued by her, he will try his best to avoid any contact with Alice, such as locking the doors on her or even hiding. Riba seems to greatly dislike human beings, which hints that he is not human himself. The reasons for his dislike are currently unknown, but it could be because he either simply can't relate to humans or he experienced a negative event in his past involving them. Riba's personality varies depending on the route chosen. In the True/Normal ending route, he is shown to be quite sadistic. His sadist side has mostly been shone towards Alice during the time she was going through an incurable disease. He was capable of manipulating her by offering her eternal life in exchange for the death of her entire family. This however, was a lie, as he watched Alice murder her family members one-by-one as a sight for amusement. In -ARC-, a little more of his personality is explained. Riba hides his true personality under his calm persona. He is an expert of lies and will lead himself into killing individuals from allowing the truth to be revealed if they are close to coming into a conclusion, and completely removing the evidence. Much of this is shown in the Sane route where he appears hostile to Mario and Luigi when he finally reunites with them. He immediately prompts himself into killing them without question. In the Sane Route, his hatred towards Alice is shown and will try any possible measures to kill her along with Mario and his investigation. This point is proven in the Insane route where it is revealed that Riba was the one who locked the door on Mario when entering the gas room in search of a key. But in the Insane Route, Riba actually helps Mario, because he is probably worried of him, as Mario stabs him after going out of the gas room. But Riba is being annoyed by Mario, as he is talking about that he is cold in the rain, and Riba gives him his jacket to "finally shut up". He also gives Mario a chocolate, because he doesn't like it and calls Mario a "burden". Later, Riba also saves Mario from a suicide, kills angry Aurora and wakes up Mario from an unreal dream, in which Mario meets with Luigi and Peach on a picnic, and Peach gives him a "meat pie", which is actually a flesh from Luigi's and Peach's corpses. But in most of the cases, Riba's personality remains unchanged and he kills Mario after the game most of the times. If Mario gives him a apple, he will be nice to him. Truth Revealed Beyond this point contains Spoilers. Read at your own cost! It is alluded that Riba's caring side was the result of memory loss. It is also revealed that Riba had been in some sort of a relationship with Alice in the past, which explains why she implied some sort of connection with him throughout the course of the game. When his true personality is revealed, he is nothing but a cold-hearted person who loves seeing the suffering in others. In fact, Riba never even loved Alice to begin with, which explains why he had become a target for her throughout the course of the game. When Mario and Luigi discover an old family photo, they discover that Riba was also included in the picture. The house has been abandoned for decades, which could possibly hint that Riba is not human, due to his appearance being the same throughout the timeline. When Riba met Alice in the past, the two had fallen in love and Riba became a part of her family. Alice loved Riba dearly and Riba "loved" her in return. There, he had a child named Serina, with Alice. Later at some point, Alice had gone through an unknown incurable disease that causes her life span to become short. Unable to be cured, Alice was driven into insanity because she did not want to die at such a young age. After Riba discovered this, he used this as an advantage to make a deal with her by performing a ritual. Alice was to murder her entire family and the residents that worked in her mansion, and use them as a sacrifice to allow her to obtain immortality and live forever with Riba. Much to his amusement, Riba enjoyed watching as Alice slaughtered her entire family one-by-one. As the ritual was believed to almost be complete with Serina supposedly being the final sacrifice, Serina was murdered by his daughter, Anna during that same time due to Anna's jealousy towards her and buried her body near the abandoned mine shaft. When Alice found out that Serina had already been killed, Alice becomes furious and murdered Anna in cold blood. With Serina's corpse missing, and Anna not being a suitable sacrifice due to her being an outsider to the family, Alice's ritual was incomplete. She was later killed by Riba with a crowbar after he found out that she was the one that murdered Anna. This led to her spirit haunting the halls of the mansion, waiting to get her revenge on him someday. However, she cursed the mansion before her death, which trapped Riba within the perimeters of the mansion. Riba had seemingly forgotten Alice's true intentions by the time Mario and Luigi arrived. When Mario had been consumed by Alice's spirit, Riba decided to use this as an advantage and use Mario as a sacrificial host for her. Not knowing why Alice had turned hostile towards him, Riba pretended to act as if he had no idea what was going on. When Mario was about to uncover a secret by reading a letter left by Anna, Riba turned hostile towards Mario and ripped the paper in two. To gain Alice's trust again, he continued on with her wishes by trying to complete the ritual so she could live forever with him, before possibly turning against her once again. However, Alice ends up betraying Riba during the ritual and stabs him to death. Powers and Abilities Being a demon in disguise of a human, Riba is an extremely powerful being, much more powerful and dangerous than almost any of the cast. This is expressed in the true ending of the main game as well as the Sane route of Arc where Riba shows to be a highly dangerous threat to the brothers, if not more than any of the other threats in the game. In the Continuance 4 ending, Marchionne himself even states that Riba should have more power than him. Demonic Physiology: As a demon, Riba is capable of incredibly feats of physical strength and power that surpass any regular human being, including both Mario and Luigi. On multiple occasions, Riba has shown the ability to overpower Mario in terms of sheer strength such as when he's able to choke him (when Alice possessed him and chased him through the hallway), and during the insane route where a flashback of Elizabeth and Anna will cause him to burst out in rage and start choking Mario. In both instances, Mario is completely unable to fight back against Riba, only being able to beg him to stop. Additionally Riba later on manages to overpower Luigi with ease after he interrupts the ritual, and the only thing that stopped him from finishing Luigi off was Alice waking up and promptly killing Riba. Aside from being capable of superhuman strength, Riba has feats of impressive endurance, able to take and endure harsh punishment. In the insane route, Mario ambushes Riba after escaping the gas room and immediately stabs him repeatedly with a knife. However Riba gets up later on, claiming that it was merely but a scratch. He also shows to be capable of healing much faster than an ordinary mortal, as Mario notes that Riba doesn't have any visible wounds on him. Immortality: After becoming a demon, Riba was granted a limited form of immortality. Riba doesn't age at all, and he's lived for over a century, having maintained a long lifespan living in Evangeline and later on being trapped in the mansion for so many years. Additionally Riba seems to be unable to die to ordinary mortals, or at the very least not so easily to them, having survived all of Mario's attempts to kill him (in the Sane Route Missing B ending, it's shown Riba has actually survived the chandelier falling on him. In the Insane Route, Mario doesn't kill Riba as it's stated Riba survived and just played dead. If Mario attempts to attack Ribs in the church during the sin trials, Riba just immediately turns and kills him almost instantly.) The only thing that's really shown to be able to kill him successfully is the power of a supernatural being. It's unknown if Riba is or isn't immune to other things like being poisoned or affected by the weather, since he has shown to actually be affected by cold. Resurrection: Whenever Riba is killed, he simply just comes back to life in a new body, as he's stated throughout his time being trapped in the mansion. Presumably whenever he has died by any of the angered spirits in the home (or when he attempted suicide in hopes of escaping), he only just reappears in the mansion. The process of resurrecting takes a very long time, such as if Riba dies at all in the Insane Route, he doesn't reappear at all for the rest of the run. Additionally each time he comes back, he loses a bit of his memory of his former life. When he resurrected after being killed by Marchionne in the forest, he briefly struggled to remember everything that happened, and he failed to remember Mario (only gaining his memories of the plumber back after seeing his face in a picture) Pyrokinesis (limited): Riba has demonstrated to be capable of creating and manipulating fire, as shown in his boss battle during the Sane Route. Despite the fire in-game not being able to harm the player, in the cutscene following Riba's defeat, the flames will actually burn down the church. Mind Control: Riba has demonstrated the ability to mind control and influence others. In the Sane Route, he takes control over Luigi and orders him to kill Mario at the Church. Presumably, given that Alice shows sincere regret for her horrible actions and Riba mentions how much he likes hurting people as well as his amusement at watching Alice kill, it is possible Riba had used this ability on her when she was doing this. Especially since Alice admits that she cared greatly about her father. (And if this is true, it's also possible Riba's influence is dependent on the the mental/emotional state of the victim. Alice was desperate for a way to survive, not wanting to die at a young age and going insane, while Luigi was mentally/emotionally taxed out from Marchionne and Luciano finally making piece and hearing Mario apologize for everything). Demonic Transformation: Riba has the ability to shed out of his human form and reveal his true demon self, as seen in the Sane Route Missing Ending B. In this form, Riba grows wings from his back, sharp teeth, horns, and a snake-like tongue. In this form, he enjoys feasting upon the flesh and souls of others. This demonic form is so terrifying that Mario, who previously was willing to accept his fate, was pushed to run away and escape from Riba. Combat Prowess: In his past life before the events of Mario the Music Box, Riba initially served as Marchionne's bodyguard, protecting him from all types of dangerous threats, which included assassins and witches. It's also revealed in a secret cutscene that Riba was the one that gave Marchionne his signature blade and taught him how to fight and defend himself, indicating Riba himself is quite skilled and formidable in combat. Intellect and Quick Planning: Having lived for so long, Riba is pretty intelligent and knowledgeable on a lot of things. He's extremely knowledgeable on different types of spirits, as seen in the Insane Route where he quickly manages to identify the Lanterns by the sound of their bells, despite not being able to see them properly due to the fog. Additionally Riba usually knows exactly how to fend off and deal with spirits when confronted by them. Upon encountering the mysterious spirit while searching for a plank, Riba waits for it to attack and dodges, before attempting to run away. Upon hiding from Alice, Riba deduced that he needs to attack in order to make her release her control over Mario. Riba has even shown to be capable of predicting and outsmarting his enemies on some occasions. When hiding from Riba in the sane route, (if the player is under the bed) Riba will drop his key on the ground to try to get Mario to come out. Additionally when Mario escapes the gas room and repeatedly stabs him, Riba plays dead just to get Mario to stop, and confronts him later on. Expert Manipulator: Riba has shown to be an expert manipulator, able to easily take advantage of others and use them to serve his own purpose. As shown in the game, and further emphasized the sin of Greed trial at the church, he's successfully manipulated Marchionne, Alice, and Mario. He used Marchionne just to obtain all of his money and power. Taking advantage of Alice's love for him, along with her desperation to not die, Riba influenced her to commit terrible acts of murder on her family. Additionally Riba uses Mario as a means to an end, for him to finally take care of Alice and free him from the curse that keeps him trapped in the mansion. Weaknesses Despite being a very powerful demon, Riba is not without his own weaknesses. For one, it is implied that Riba's deadly power can be weakened and nullified if Riba himself develops feelings and starts to care for another person. Throughout both the main game and the Insane Route of Arc, Riba is shown to be a lot more vulnerable due to the fact that he (to an extent) cares about the well-being of Mario. Despite killing Mario in cold blood in Continuance 1 (as well as trying and failing to kill him in the Continuance 2 ending), Riba admits to Mario in a death scene during the Insane Route that he geniunely felt sorry for the plumber and was trying to keep him alive for as long as possible. In the Continuance 4 ending of Arc, Riba's feelings for Mario weakens him so much that he's unable to fight against Marchionne's power. However in the Sane Route, Riba is shown to be much more powerful and threatening due to being purely evil and insane. Additionally due to his true nature as a demon, Riba is highly susceptible to holy water. As shown in the Insane Route, if the player chooses to give him holy water, Riba will mid-way stop drinking and scream in agony as he feels the water burn him. It gets so bad to the point where Riba takes the knife away from Mario and commits suicide. Relationships Alice Aduraice Riba is the husband of Alice Aduraice, and also her murderer. They had met when Alice was just a child, and Alice seemingly immediately developed feelings for him, though, at the time, he saw her as just an annoyance. When Alice grew up, she "saved" Riba's daughter, Anna, from a house fire of her own creation, tricking him into marrying her, killing his previous wife by stabbing her multiple times, and then burning her corpse. Riba has grown to clearly hate Alice, despite manipulating her to think he's still interested in her. The only present instance of Riba caring about Alice is when she disappears in ARC. Mario Depending on what route (or game) you play, Riba has a very different relationship with Mario. In most play throughs, Riba deeply hates Mario and wants nothing more than to kill him in cold blood. Riba loves manipulating people, and Mario is no different. Although, in other routes, Riba grows to care about Mario, and it is even hinted at times that he has feelings for him. Although it is not made clear if these feelings are friendly or romantic. Luigi Riba and Luigi are acquaintances at best, and enemies at worst. Riba and Luigi have only ever had short conversations, no matter the route that is taken. In the "Better off Lost" and Sane routes of MTMB and MTMBA respectively, Riba has even tried to kill Luigi. Trivia ]] * Riba is the only playable character to die in most routes. His fate in the ending of "Missing" is unknown due to the player not progressing towards any route where he is shown being killed. ** It is revealed in the extension of ''(Mario) The Music Box'', ''(Mario) The Music Box -ARC-'''s public demo that Riba was still alive inside the mansion's basement as he appears and asks Mario if he missed him. * Riba is the only playable character out of the 3 to not have an actual CG death scene. All his deaths will always switch to the game over screen the moment he's killed. * Despite being someone who understands the dangerous situation he gets himself into, Riba can also be quite clumsy. This can be shown when Alice chases him down the hall and he has to find a place to hide in a room. Riba can choose to pose as a Lamp to hide rather than hiding in a much more obvious place when Alice enters the room, causing her to be ashamed of the man she once loved before killing him. *In ''(Mario) The Music Box -ARC-'', Mario says that Riba's jacket smells like fish. This refers to how his name actually means fish in Slovenian. *Riba loves apples. In ''(Mario) The Music Box -ARC-'', Riba's personality is completely changed to good, when Mario gives him an apple. *If you give Riba the unknown liquid, he will feel a burning pain and it's revealed that the unknown liquid was holy water (because he's a demon) and will take the knife from Mario and stab himself to death. Mario will apologize to Riba that he did the wrong choice to give him holy water. * Despite being enemies with Marchionne, Riba shares a lot of similarities with him. Both of them have tried to kill Mario in Arc while the other man acted as an ally and helped him (in the sane route, Riba was trying to kill Mario and Luigi while Marchionne was helping out Mario. In the insane route, Marchionne was trying to kill Mario while Riba was acting as an ally), they both hate Alice since she was responsible for the death of their loved ones (Luciano and Marchionne's parents and Elizabeth and Anna respectively), and they both were former humans that were turned into supernatural entities (Riba becoming a demon while Marchionne had turned into a witch). They both typically keep the appearance of a normal human but on rare occasions reveal their true forms (the only difference here is Marchionne shows his witch form in the final phase of his boss fight, while Riba reveals his demonic form only in the Missing End B ending). Additionally they are both skilled manipulators that have tried to take advantage of Mario as well (Riba throughout the entire series just uses Mario as a means to finally escape, while Marchionne in the insane route tries to take advantage of Mario's guilt and misery). * Interestingly, Riba is one of the two bosses that can't be beaten by being fought and depleting his health (the other being Len). It's unknown if this was unintentional, or if this was done purposefully to show how much of a threat Riba is. Category:Characters Category:Playable Characters Category:Antagonist